Friday, November 23, 2018

Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 25, 2018: I am the Alpha and the Omega...


What do we expect from our king? 

   When, in John’s Gospel, Pilate asks Jesus, Are you the king of the Jews?, Jesus’ eventual answer points to the true nature of kingship:  for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Jesus came in order to reveal that the love of God is the only truth, a truth that remains elusive unless we allow God to be king of our lives.  To accept the Lord’s kingship is to accept his love, even though we have not earned it; to accept his kingship is also to obey his word, not out of coercion but out of a confidence that God’s will is the truth, that God will lead us, that God’s power is the only power worth paying attention to. 

   Readings from the Old Testament give us a foretaste of the messiah-king to come.  The prophet Daniel suggests that, though this king will be like a Son of man, and therefore human, because he comes on the clouds of heaven, his origins will be divine.  Moreover, Daniel is confident that his kingship shall not be destroyed.  Psalm 93 similarly celebrates the Lord’s kingship – The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty! – with an accent on the trust that his decrees inspire.  And the final book of the New Testament celebrates the fullness of Jesus’ kingship, citing Daniel’s clouds of heaven while proclaiming that Jesus is the faithful witness to God’s truth, the Alpha and the Omega who brings us the whole of life, ruling our hearts with the power of his love.

   We are waiting for the kingdom to come in its fullness, a kingdom not ruled by man but by God alone, where the only power is the power of God’s love.  Let us live in the present, for that kingdom, as if we are preparing to enter it at every moment, with trust that Jesus is the truth, the king, the almighty!

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source:  www.wordle.net

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